Monday, January 9, 2012

A YEAR LONG TIME OF STUDY TO GET IT RIGHT

More study and exploring the lessons/exercises in the Ewa Karpinska book, Wet-on-Wet Watercolour Techniques. Love the book and love the paintings inside. I'm trying to relax into the loose style and let things happen and blur and then add detail or interest after the paper is almost dry again.

It definitely is a learning process - but I think this is a year's goal. By the end of this year, I may be more comfortable and able to articulate what I want to see in my own paintings in the wet-in-wet and loose style. For now, I'll just keep trying and practicing and perhaps gaining muscle memory that will allow me to do my own paintings this way.

It helps to work on at least 1/4 sheet and no smaller - better yet to work on a 1/2 sheet watercolor paper - and the Saunders Waterford is a good paper for this loose and wet way of painting.

In looking at this again, after I posted it, it was obvious that I had hard edges and deeper color in the berries and pods but didn't do the same with the greenery coming out of the purple jug so it doesn't look right. I'll recheck Ewa's version and see how she accomplished the look of the fronds coming out of the water in the jug and then being more distinct when they are outside the jug. (Sometimes you can see those things for yourself in your own painting - sometimes you need extra eyes.)

4 comments:

Hi Rhonda. I bought the book after reading about it on your blog; I love the way she paints clear glass! I tried one, small wet-on-wet painting: what a disaster! It's quite hard to do, with all the levels or wetness and thicknesses of paint. I'm enjoying your experiments!

Laura, you already have a lovely wet-in-wet style but doing it her way does take some time and practice and painting on a larger sheet works better (for me, anyway). I need to return to the beginning and try to memorize her levels again and what she means by creamy consistency in paint, etc. It could be a bit easier to decipher but once you start playing with her exercise, you get the ideas better. Good luck!!! I'll enjoy seeing a few of your own paintings based on her lessons/exercises!

I have not seen this book, but there was a buzz about it on the one hundred washes blog last year. It is such fun to try new things and new ways of approaching watercolour, isn't it. It's always bout pigment to water ratio, I believe.

I began my journey with watercolor painting in April 2003, taking weekly lessons for six years before I realized I needed to move on to explore on my own.

I admire the work of so many artists; my sidebar is full of artists who inspire me every day. I also love the freedom of Shirley Trevena, the delicate touch of Ted Nuttall and Hazel Soan, and the power of Mary Whyte. I enjoy visiting art blogs, reading art magazines and watching art DVDs to further my art education and to simply enjoy the beauty that is being created around the world in watermedia these days.

"If you have a burning desire to create art, you will lean into the flame of that desire, rather than shy away from it. You may get burned, or you may enjoy the glowing warmth of success. Whatever the outcome, you will not be able to withstand the pull to create something meaningful, beautiful, and lasting."